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Released May 07, 2018 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia) plans to make capital investments totaling about $35 billion over the next five years, company officials told investors May 2 during its quarterly earnings call. Nearly all of that sum will be spent in Southern's state-regulated electric or gas utilities. Beyond the five-year, $35 billion capital spending estimate, Southern Power, the holding company's merchant power generation business, could invest up to an additional $2.5 billion over the next five years in growth-related projects, company officials added.
Southern Company had a good first quarter, reporting net income of $938 million on revenue of $6.37 billion, compared to earning $658 million on revenue of $5.77 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Results for both quarters were before non-recurring charges.
"Each of our major business units had a tremendous start to the year," Southern Company Chief Executive Officer Thomas A. Fanning said May 2 in announcing quarterly earnings. "Our premier, state-regulated electric and gas utilities, as well as our other businesses, have performed exceptionally well and are on track to deliver on their targets for 2018."
Southern Company's biggest single capital outlay over the 2018-2022 timeframe, about $4 billion, will be spent to bring Vogtle Units 3 and 4 online. Those plants are scheduled to begin operating in April 2021 and April 2022, and Southern officials said construction is on track to meet the approved schedule for the two nuclear units. Construction of the new units is about 67% complete, a company spokesman told Industrial Info.
Click on the image at right to see a photo of Vogtle Unit 3 taken in March 2018.
Industrial Info is tracking 91 projects from Southern Company and its affiliates that are scheduled to begin construction between January 2018 and December 2022. Many of these project have experienced multiple delays, and there is some doubt whether some of the projects will ever be built. The total investment value (TIV) of these 91 projects about $5.1 billion.
On a functional basis, and excluding Vogtle units 3 and 4, Southern plans to spend about $5.8 billion on its electric distribution business between 2018 and 2022, $4.8 billion on environmental remediation (including coal-ash pond closures), $4.3 billion on transmission projects and $3.8 billion on generation maintenance. The largest share of its capital investments in state-regulated gas utilities will be spent on pipeline replacement and improvement, which is expected to garner about $3.7 billion over the next five years, company officials said. Over its five-year horizon, Southern's gas utilities plan to make about $6.8 billion in capital and maintenance investments.
Southern's four state-regulated electric utilities--Georgia Power Company (Atlanta), Alabama Power Company (Birmingham, Alabama), Gulf Power Company (Pensacola, Florida) and Mississippi Power Company (Gulfport, Mississippi)--plan to make capital investments totaling $6.3 billion this year, $5.6 billion in 2019 and $5.3 billion in 2020. More than half of each year's spending will be invested in Southern's Georgia Power unit.
The company's gas utility business is expected to make capital investments of about $1.7 billion this year, $1.5 billion in 2019 and $1.2 billion in 2020, company officials projected.
Aside from Vogtle nuclear plant's unit additions, and given the completion of regulatory matters surrounding the controversial Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in Mississippi, some of the largest capital projects scheduled to begin construction between 2018 and 2022 include:
Southern Company had a good first quarter, reporting net income of $938 million on revenue of $6.37 billion, compared to earning $658 million on revenue of $5.77 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Results for both quarters were before non-recurring charges.
"Each of our major business units had a tremendous start to the year," Southern Company Chief Executive Officer Thomas A. Fanning said May 2 in announcing quarterly earnings. "Our premier, state-regulated electric and gas utilities, as well as our other businesses, have performed exceptionally well and are on track to deliver on their targets for 2018."
Southern Company's biggest single capital outlay over the 2018-2022 timeframe, about $4 billion, will be spent to bring Vogtle Units 3 and 4 online. Those plants are scheduled to begin operating in April 2021 and April 2022, and Southern officials said construction is on track to meet the approved schedule for the two nuclear units. Construction of the new units is about 67% complete, a company spokesman told Industrial Info.
Click on the image at right to see a photo of Vogtle Unit 3 taken in March 2018.Industrial Info is tracking 91 projects from Southern Company and its affiliates that are scheduled to begin construction between January 2018 and December 2022. Many of these project have experienced multiple delays, and there is some doubt whether some of the projects will ever be built. The total investment value (TIV) of these 91 projects about $5.1 billion.
On a functional basis, and excluding Vogtle units 3 and 4, Southern plans to spend about $5.8 billion on its electric distribution business between 2018 and 2022, $4.8 billion on environmental remediation (including coal-ash pond closures), $4.3 billion on transmission projects and $3.8 billion on generation maintenance. The largest share of its capital investments in state-regulated gas utilities will be spent on pipeline replacement and improvement, which is expected to garner about $3.7 billion over the next five years, company officials said. Over its five-year horizon, Southern's gas utilities plan to make about $6.8 billion in capital and maintenance investments.
Southern's four state-regulated electric utilities--Georgia Power Company (Atlanta), Alabama Power Company (Birmingham, Alabama), Gulf Power Company (Pensacola, Florida) and Mississippi Power Company (Gulfport, Mississippi)--plan to make capital investments totaling $6.3 billion this year, $5.6 billion in 2019 and $5.3 billion in 2020. More than half of each year's spending will be invested in Southern's Georgia Power unit.
The company's gas utility business is expected to make capital investments of about $1.7 billion this year, $1.5 billion in 2019 and $1.2 billion in 2020, company officials projected.
Aside from Vogtle nuclear plant's unit additions, and given the completion of regulatory matters surrounding the controversial Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in Mississippi, some of the largest capital projects scheduled to begin construction between 2018 and 2022 include:
- Georgia Power plans to spend about $550 million close and remediate coal ash ponds at its 3,599-megawatt (MW) Robert W Scherer Power Station in Monroe County, Georgia. This project, currently in the engineering phase, is scheduled to wrap up by mid-2029. Click here for a project report on this project.
- Georgia Power also plans to invest about $400 million to remediate the coal-ash ponds at its Hammond Steam-Electric Generating Station in Floyd County, Georgia. This project began earlier this year and is expected to be finished in early 2024. Click here to view a project report for this project.
- A third project Georgia Power is scheduled to undertake is construction of a 139-MW solar farm, the Robins PV Solar Farm, in Houston County, Georgia. Construction of this $280-milllon project is scheduled to begin in early 2019 and be complete by yearend 2019. Readers can see a project report for this solar farm by clicking here.
- Gulf Power, Southern's Florida-based unit, plans to add a 243-MW gas-fired generation unit at its Scholz Generating Station in Jackson County, Florida. That $240-million project is scheduled to begin turning dirt in August 2019, and be generating electricity by yearend 2020. Click here to view a project report for this project.
